Spoiling Myself in Athens

Finally Greece. I can't believe that I'm meeting my mom tomorrow, given that she was totally against my quitting my job and traveling for a long period... Will we get along?!?!?!

The couchette ride from Sofia to Athens wasn't too bad. Basically, it was a 6 person seater that converted into 2 rows of triple bunk beds. We had 7 people in a compartment made for 6. A bit crowded, but 2 of them were cute kids (more importantly quiet), so it was bearable.
Amazingly, the train arrived early! Which meant that I couldn't check into the hotel (yes, a HOTEL this time!) for a while.
It was so nice to have a TV, toilet, and shower in my own personal room!

I wasn't going to do any sightseeing for the day since I wanted to wait for my mom. I decided to use the day to organize plans for the next 2 weeks. Booked ferry tickets to Santorini and Crete (good thing I did this early – there were only a couple of seats left!), and plane tickets to Istanbul.
That done, I went to the bank to get some Euros. I almost left my ATM card in the machine!!! I've been so accustomed to the ATMs that give back the card before the cash. This one did the reverse. As soon as I got my cash, I walked away. I didn't realize that I was card-less until I crossed the street. I ran back just in time before the machine sucked my card back. A guy was laughing at me...

For dinner, I had a STRONG craving for Japanese food. There happened to be a nice (and expensive!) Japanese restaurant just steps away from the hotel. Whatever. I can spoil myself for one night....so, I ordered myself some tofu and 豚カツ定食 : )

Bulgaria's Highlight – Rila Monastery

As the title suggests, this is Bulgaria's top attraction. Rightfully so, I think.
But for some reason, it's really hard to get there on public transportation. Only one indirect bus a day, with an iffy schedule.

I only had 2 days in Sofia, one of which would be for Rila. Due to my desire to "want things easy", I opted for my hostel's tour (basically a car hire) to the monastery. I was joined by 2 British girls who had spent the last 3 weeks volunteering at an orphanage in northern Bulgaria. You'd think orphanages are for little kids, but this one had teenagers too...a bit strange, I thought.
Anyways, the drive to Rila was about 1.5 hours long, ending up in the mountains. On our way, we got caught speeding! Oops. Driver's comment: "Little problem. Too quick." Haha.
There are a lot of hiking options around Rila, but none of us was in the mood. So, we spent the next couple of hours wandering through the complex. I was so excited to be there! I've always wanted to come. In my opinion, the monastery was rather fun-looking, so colorful! More grand than the ones I saw in Romania, yet serene. I loved it : ) Oh, and I didn't realize until I got there, but this monastery was for monks, whereas the others were for nuns. I don't know why, but there was a huge feast going on in the main church, accompanied by bottles of "holy drinking water". I was a bit curious, but didn't buy...

As soon as we got back to Sofia late in the afternoon, I rushed off in search of a train ticket to Athens. The counter at the station told me that everything was sold out and to come back tomorrow morning. ARGHHHHHH!!! I then went to the ticket agent in the city just to reconfirm (you never know with these places...). And guess what?! There was a seat. Nothing in the sleepers, but there was one last seat in the couchette. I wasn't quite sure what the seating/sleeping arrangements in the couchette were, but I didn't care. I took that seat.

Incidentally, I had another bout of luck involving public transportation that day. Like in many eastern European countries, you are required to validate your tickets on board the tram. If you don't validate, though, you can use your ticket many times : ) I've gotten accustomed to not validating my tickets, since they have NEVER been checked anywhere. But a uniformed man got on the tram and started checking tickets this time. SHIT. I grabbed a somewhat validated ticket (ie. the hole punches weren't that clear) sitting on the window sill, and showed it to the man. He asked which hole puncher I used for the validation. I pointed to the one across from me. He put my ticket in just to check...and that one punched the matching pattern of holes. LUCKY. VERY. I mean, who knows how much they can charge tourists for free-riding?! Especially in corrupt Bulgaria.
(FYI – I've heard that many people get caught and fined in Budapest. I've never had a problem, but if you're ever headed out there, I'd recommend honesty on the subway...)

My second day in Sofia was spent taking in the city sights. Not too exciting. Lots of churches as usual. And a central market, but it didn't do much for me; too clean and touristy.
I just like to walk around...

On a final note, the other Bulgarian highlight – free dinner at the hostel!!! It's the same menu of pasta with tomato sauce (canned of course) and a glass of beer each day, but who's gonna complain?! Free is good.

The End of My Eastern Europe Tour

Sad, sad, sad. I'm finally off to my last country in eastern Europe – Bulgaria.

After another long, hot, slow train ride (starting with a train to Bucharest at 5 in the morning!), I arrived in Veliko Tarnovo. The station was a few km from the city center, but luckily, I met an American aboard who agreed to stay with one of the hotel touts at the station if he drove me to the center : )

Veliko Tarnovo is a picturesque, small town sitting on a gorge. Because of its well-known citadel, I thought there would be a lot of tourists. But as it turned out, I had the whole hostel to myself...Cool! After doing some grocery shopping, I spent the rest of the evening cooking up some dinner and lounging in the hostel's very cozy common room. View from window:

Early the following morning, I headed into town and the citadel. The town has narrow, cobble-stoned streets twisting along the gorge. It was sort of like a maze, fun to walk through! The center of town was dotted with traditional workshops (like this cutlery one) and outdoor cafes, where I had a relaxing cup of coffee and pancakes.

The citadel, however, was a huge disappointment. Besides providing some good scenery, it had little to offer. I don't think it was worth the admission fee (they didn't even check the tickets!) Perhaps it would've been better if I had a guide to explain the ruins...

By mid-afternoon, I was done with Veliko Tarnovo, and so hopped onto a bus for Bulgaria's capital, Sofia.

Transylvania – Dracula or Not.....

My final stop in Romania was the town of Brasov. Another 7 hour train ride, but this one turned out to be very unlike the previous day...
First of all, the train had NO aircon, making the compartment feel like a sauna. Miserable physically, but I was having a relatively good time conversing with the 3 Romanian girls sitting with me. Things became HELL when a horrendous family joined our compartment! I know this sounds mean, but I can only say that this was the most stupidest-looking family I've ever seen:
− Parents & daughter had too many cavities they were missing some of their front tooth.
− Fat father had to keep his shirt open, exposing his beer belly. Not only that, he found it necessary to apply deodorant every half an hour or so, and proceeded to cut his toe nails in front of us. Gross.
− Family ate chicken wings in the train, dropping half of the food on the floor. Once done, they threw the garbage out the window!!! We were all shocked.
The girls decided they couldn't stand to be in the same compartment with them, so went out into the hallway. I decided to join the Japanese pair from Suceava a few cars down. Thank goodness they didn't stay on the whole ride. Once they left, one of the girls remarked, "Finally peace." I couldn't agree more. Another girl started to wipe the seats with wet wipes so we could all sit back down!

I arrived at Brasov late in the evening. The 10 minute walk from the bus stop to my hostel made me glad that I came to this town : ) It was through one of the nicest old towns that I've been to in a while.

The next morning, I met up with the Japanese mother-daughter backpackers and headed to Sinaia. The minibus drove for 1.5 hrs through mountainous scenery; the hiking and skiing is supposedly very good around here. Sinaia is famous for these mountains and Peles Castle. For a rather hefty fee, you can join a guided tour (only option to get inside) through the castle rooms. Since I came all the way here, thought might as well. I didn't fork over the camera fees though. Hehe. So I don't have anything to show, but take my word – the interior wood carvings/workings on the ceiling, walls, and furniture were great!!! On the other hand, the armory room was a bore...I have absolutely no interest in that kind of stuff.
We had originally planned to take a cable car up one of the mountains, but the weather wasn't the best and it was waaaaay overpriced. Instead, we decided to get back to Brasov earlier and take a look around the town. We ended up walking the entire perimeter of the old town, checked out some churches (none really stood out), and went up the main hill that has a "BRASOV" sign similar to Hollywood. By the time we got up there, a storm was brewing – strong winds and lightening. A bit scary since we seemed to be the only ones up there!!! After a couple of photos, we headed straight back down to a dinner of roll cabbage : ) YUM.
The mom/daughter pair were like energizer bunnies!!! I think we were constantly on the move for at least 12 hours that day. I normally don't do that...I was completely exhausted by the end of the day.

So, what to do with Bran Castle the following day? To be honest, I was looking forward to Bran the most when I came to Brasov. It's more commonly known as "Dracula's castle". But everyone I spoke with told me that it was VERY unremarkable, small, and not worth the trip at all. Nothing vampire-ish or dracula-ish about the place. Being the lazy person that I am, I ended up NOT going. Oh well. I spent the entire day taking a leisurely stroll through the old town, where I found an ikebana shop...interesting. And had a wonderful French toast : )

Painted Monasteries of Suceava

One of the main reasons why I decided to come to Romania was to see the painted monasteries up north. The train ride was long, about 7 hours, but it was a nice, clean, air-conditioned ride. I met a Romanian family aboard, who WRONGLY told me to get off at the last stop, even though the hostel directions told me to get off one station earlier. Unfortunately, there was no public bus at the last stop, so the family ended up driving me to the hostel. Kind gesture, but they somehow managed to drop me off at the WRONG street. What it is with me and WRONG directions by Romanians?!

As soon as I got to my hostel, I met a Japanese mother-daughter pair on a 3 month trip around Eastern Europe. How cool is that, backpacking with mom!!! I don't think my mom would be willing to backpack and stay in hostels for 3 months...not that I would want to in the first place. I can't imagine traveling with her for that long of a period. (We'll see what happens when I actually do meet up with mom for 2 weeks in Greece and Turkey.)

Anyways, the painted monasteries are all quite far apart, and difficult to see without a car. The only option is to join a local tour; I joined the one offered by the hostel along with 2 Japanese and 3 Americans. I didn't realize Romania was such a hot spot for Americans until I got there and met a lot of them at each hostel.

Brief summary of the monasteries...
I think the region is dotted with these churches, but I only went to see the main four – Bucovina, Humor, Moldovita, and Suceavita. They are all quite tiny, but are completely covered with frescoes on both the inside and the outside. Absolutely beautiful!!! It's amazing how the frescoes on the outside have lasted so long. My favorite was the Bucovina monastery, where the exterior frescoes depicting the last judgment (if I remember correctly) were all done in a shade of blue.
These monasteries are currently still in use by those of the orthodox faith. Nuns live there, and locals come to pray. Very religious people, the Romanians.
What I found most annoying about the area, however, was the need to pay a "camera fee" for each monastery. And they were charging as much as the entrance fees!!! Can't they just increase the overall entrance fee to include the photography rights?! So, being the cheapie that I am, I only took photos at two of them...

Into Romania

The train ride from Belgrade to Bucharest was the longest one I've taken so far. 14 hours on a non-AC sleeper. The windows didn't open either : ( I'm glad I splurged a bit for the 2 person compartment, rather than the 3, as it gave me some more head room. Sounds terrible, but the journey was actually not that bad at all. I had the best room (?) mate possible, a Serbian music student on her way to Romania to sing at a traditional music contest. I wanted to hear what "traditional Romanian music" sounded like, but she refused to sing on the train...for obvious reasons I suppose. Her professor was traveling with her in the next compartment (they don't mix sexes in the sleepers unless you book all beds). The three of us stood around in the hallway (no dining car and too hot in the rooms) talking about a lot of different topics until bed time. Most interesting related to the changes in the former Yugoslav republics, including Serbia. Seems like Serbia took a significant hit when they gained independence, but things are slowly improving especially in the northern region. The two of them sounded pretty optimistic about where their nation was headed, even though they raised concerns about how the southern regions "just don't care about anything and are lazy".

We arrived in Bucharest at the dark, early hour of 5am. Before parting ways, the professor wanted to make sure I was at the right bus stop to the hostel. He asked around and left me at the wrong stop...oh well. After several more attempts, I found my way to the correct stop, boarded the bus, and arrived safely at the hostel. Once again, too early to check in. But they let me have some coffee and breakfast. Yaaay!

I spent most of the morning in the common room, figuring out the train schedules throughout Romania. Apparently, you cannot buy advanced tickets at the station, but need to go to the official agent. Since I needed tickets for Suceava the following morning, I decided to draw up my route/schedule and book all the tickets at once. I hate lining up for tickets...

That done, I started walking around the old part of Bucharest. Let me say that the "old town" here is NOTHING like the ones I've seen in other eastern European cities.
Bucharest is dirty and dusty. There is some sort of construction going on at every street corner, which makes me wonder if this has anything to do with meeting certain standards to be in the EU. And there are stray dogs everywhere. I don't think they're rabid, but I read about some Japanese tourist being massacred by them a couple of years ago. I thought it'd be a good idea to keep a distance...
Bottom line – Bucharest is not a very pleasant city. Not really worth the stop.

Nonetheless, it was interesting to walk around the huge, concrete, Soviet-style buildings. Many of them appear to have been built around small churches to hide their existence. I randomly walked into a beautiful wooden orthodox church, which made me really excited about my trip to Suceava! (FYI – Suceava is well-known for their painted orthodox churches/monasteries)Another highlight of the city was the Romanian Peasant Museum. You'd think they'd be able to come up with a better name for a museum.... Anyways, the museum houses a large collection of traditional Romanian textiles, religious icons, and ceramics. So colorful! They had the most beautiful winter coat – wool on the outside with some intricate stitching and fur on the inside. It looked like something I'd try on at the department store, and would buy if I had the money...
(No photos – I refused to pay the extra camera fee)

Cigarettes and Alcohol

I apologize for the generalization, but I think smoking and drinking summarize what Belgrade has to offer. I don't do either, so my brief stay here was a bit uneventful...

The overnight train from Ljubljana passed through Zagreb (Croatia) on its way to Serbia. Hence, I got woken up 4 times throughout the night for border control. Not very pleasant, but at least I got my passport finally stamped : ) Plus, I had the whole compartment to myself!

I had no clue what to expect of Belgrade. I've heard the name on the news a lot in the past, but nothing more. I don't even think I've ever seen pictures of the place. I only came to Belgrade because I needed a place to break my journey from Slovenia to Romania.

So...The station appeared old and run-down, but fine. I had no clue where to head from there though. ALL of the signs were written in Cyrillic (something that never entered my mind...) !!! Unfortunately, my guide book translated all the street names into the English alphabet, so I couldn't get my bearings straight. Standing at the street corner, I ran into another girl as confused and lost as I was; we decided to stick together and head into the city center. Which turned out to be very easy with the helpful locals who read out the street signs whenever we needed directions.

Once I dropped off my bags at the hostel (overnight train = too early to check in), I headed out to explore whatever Belgrade had to offer. Honestly, not much. The main tourist attraction, Kalemegdan Citadel, turned out to be just a huge park where people smoke, play chess, or sit around.
This viewpoint ("eye") was supposed to have great views...but of nothing special, I realized.Being the nerd that I am, I wanted to check out the Tesla Museum later in the day. I took a loooooong walk to the other side of the city, only to witness its absence. Sigh.

Anyways, about the cigarettes and alcohol...It seems like they are the favorite pass time. Everyone does it everywhere incessantly. I hate breathing in smoke from someone walking in front of me! I can't stand eating with smoke either. And they even allow it in the hostels!!! The drinking too. Some of the people in my hostel were playing drinking games in the common room until daybreak!!! I was EXTREMELY annoyed, but too tired to walk out and smash their heads. I don't understand why people travel just to smoke & drink, especially when you end up wasting the whole entire day with a hangover the next day... You can do that back home, no???

The MacDonald in Serbia is great though, even with the smoking! They had a bunch of flat screen TVs on the walls, where I was able to watch the Olympic gymnastics for a couple of hours :)

Oh, and I did get a hold of that contact lens solution. Not the brands I'm used to seeing, but it was made in the Netherlands, so should be fine.

Sunday in Ljubljana

Ljubljana's old town is very cute. But everything in the city is closed on Sundays, except for restaurants and souvenir stalls geared towards tourists. I wanted to buy some contact lens solution (why didn't I get that LASIK done?!), but every single pharmacy and optical store was closed!!! I couldn't believe it. I'll have to buy some when I get to Belgrade (a slightly scary thought). I did manage to find a coffee shop with the best warm croissant I've ever had, though.

My train to Belgrade wasn't until 10pm, so I had a whole day to do something...but there was nothing much to do : (
Under normal circumstances, you could probably take a leisurely stroll around the old town center in 3-4 hours. On Sundays, you only need an hour.
I wasn't in the mood for the museums (I heard they suck) nor the botanical gardens (I heard they're worse than the museums). So...as a last resort, I went to the Ljubljana Castle after checking out some of the churches, one of which had this awesome door:

The Ljubljana Castle wasn't all that bad. First of all, you can climb up the steep hill on your own, saving on the funicular costs. Secondly, most of the exhibits are free – a pleasant surprise. And thirdly, the exhibits were fun!!! I loved the "church" with these evangelist play puppets hanging around.

Oh, and something else fun – Ljubljana has an area that makes it's own rainy weather!
(Although it seems like a waste of water...)

Beautiful Bled

The train ride to Slovenia turned out to be a combination of train and bus. Due to some track work, I had to switch train-bus-train in the middle of nowhere Hungary. No wonder they didn't allow any seat reservations when I made the booking. The AC wasn't working in both, which made most of the journey uncomfortable. But as we got closer to Ljubljana towards nightfall, the temperature dropped considerably, and I was freezing... There must've been a 15C temperature change during the day!!!
The train was delayed somewhere; it was past 11pm when I got to my hostel and I was dead tired. No dinner, just sleep.

My main reason for coming to Slovenia was to see Lake Bled. But it was drizzly and cold when I got up in the morning, tempting me to stay in bed and forget Bled. I had to force myself to get out...which was a good thing, since the weather started to clear up a bit later on : )
The bus left just as I got to the station (damn it!); the next one was in an hour. I used that hour efficiently – booked my overnight train to Belgrade for the following day and had some MacDonald's apple pie and coffee.

By the time I got to Bled, the sun was coming out. So happy I came because the place is REALLY BEAUTIFUL!!! It was a good change from all the city sights I've been seeing over the past few weeks. I highly recommend it to anyone headed out there.
Basically, there's an emerald green lake with an island church. See how green the water is!I walked around the entire circumference of the lake (6km) with a lunch stop at a supermarket (they make good, cheap sandwiches on demand) at the campground. Took me about 2-3 hours to do the walk.
I didn't take the row boat to the island since I've seen enough churches and the boat ride was too expensive for my standards.

But I did end up going to Bled Castle (I know...I'm supposed to hate castles!). Only because I climbed up the cliff, thinking it was going to be free to get the lake view.
Nothing in this world is free, especially for tourists. You can climb up to the castle, but cannot see anything unless you enter the castle...which of course charges an admission fee. Argh. I made the climb and was NOT going to leave without getting my view. So, I reluctantly paid the 7 Euro : (
Looking back though, I think it was totally worth it. That's all that counts, right?!

I noticed this cute garage on my way back down to the bus stop. Why Pinocchio, I wonder. A house full of liars???

Back at the hostel, I befriended an Australian girl who left her home country to be closer to her BF in London. But she's traveling on her own throughout Europe while he waits for his Aussie working visa...or something like that. Anyways, we went out for some pizza, which is apparently "THE" food to eat in Slovenia. Not dough pizza, but toasted bread pizza. They put a ton of cheesy. Delicious!

BTW, I've never encountered this before, but the hostel I'm staying at had this push-button system shower. I'm used to it on public sinks, but not in the shower!!! You have to push on the thing every 10 seconds to keep the water running. Not to mention that you can't adjust the water temperature either. Very annoying!!!

Fun Times in Buda

I met a couple of great people at the hostel in Budapest - a 5-month RTW tripper from Australia, and a Korean university student heading to Denmark for her semester of study abroad. The three of us ended up hanging out together in the Buda side for the next couple of days.

Before that though, I had some logistical matters to take care of, the most important one being to book my train ticket to Slovenia. I heard wonderful things about the country (notably Lake Bled area), and decided to take a detour. When I got to the main station, I took #720ish. They were still serving people in the #650s... Damn. At the rate they were handling customers, I would have to spend the whole morning waiting around at the station...
But then, my BRILLIANT mind came up with another idea – head to the local station. I figured that since the train was leaving from there (for some reason, the only train to Slovenia does not use the main station), I should be able to buy tickets. And I was completely right! HA! There were only like 5 people ahead of me : ) Sometimes, I think I might be a genius!

So, onto Buda.
Compared to Pest, Buda is the older, quieter, and more picturesque side of the city across the river. It's a pretty small area to walk around, with a castle/fort (did not go in) and a main church (couldn't go in b/c I was wearing a tank top) in the center. Since the whole area is on top of a hill, you get beautiful views towards Pest to admire. The Parliament building stands out.
And then when I looked down, there was a swarm of Asian tourists carrying black umbrellas. Kinda looks like a bunch of bats:

As a Japanese, I do have sun aversion, but I don't think I can go that far... (Plus, I'm probably way too far beyond repair already.)

That night, Narelle (the Australian girl) took us out for a night-time photography lesson. She's a part-time professional photographer. With tripod in hand, she taught me how to take some beautiful photos like this one:

The following day, we headed to the Gellert thermal spa for some relaxation in the hot springs. Like Bath in England, this place is like a warm indoor pool more than anything, which was a bit of a disappointment. I was hoping for something more "Asian"... Also not very pleasant were...
(1) Walking thru long corridors of wet floor. I'm afraid of foot fungus.
(2) Fat, pushy European women – if they wanted to sit in one particular area, they made sure they got it by whatever means. How rude!

Pest!

No...not me. (Although some people may disagree)
I'm talking about the Pest side of Budapest, Hungary.

The overnight train from Krakow to Budapest was decent enough. I had the bottom bunk of a 3 bed sleeper cabin. Only problem with these sleepers is that you can't do anything but sleep. Even for my height, there's just no space to sit on the bunk without severely slouching. Oh, another issue – you generally tend to arrive at an extremely early hour (between 5-7am), and can't check-in at the hostel.

After dropping off my luggage, I chose to explore Pest for the day (mainly because my hostel was on this side). Pest is more like the "new town" area, with a bunch of governmental and commercial buildings, and busy streets.
The central market was my first stop, to grab something to eat. Got a huge apple strudel for about $1 : ) I also wanted some fruits, but got discouraged after being yelled at by the woman when I picked up a peach to sniff it. The second floor of the market is all souvenirs. The traditional (I think) Hungarian textiles/laces were nice; of course, I couldn't buy anything.

With a full, content tummy, I walked all over Pest for the rest of the day:
- Ran into 2 Korean guys who were staying at the same hostel in Krakow. Had lunch with them. They got into Budapest really late last night, and ended up sleeping at the metro station. I don't think I can travel like that...
- The Parliament building was enormous, stunning to look at. Walking towards it was quite exciting.- Wished I could stay at the palatial Four Seasons Hotel and sleep in their plush beds. Great location, too.- I was looking forward to a performance at the famous opera house, which I heard was very cheap. Not for the show itself, but just to check out the inside. However, it turned out that they don't give performances during the summer. Darn it. Bad timing :(
- Discovered that Liszt was Hungarian

Polish Food

In addition to the kebab mentioned earlier, here are other food discoveries:

(1) Roasting pig in the main square. Did not try.... Poor thing had a pole stuck all the way through his digestive system, from the mouth to bum!

(2) Bagel stalls. I didn't realize they were bagels at first, but yup!!! They certainly tasted like bagels. YUM. Someone told me that they are a Polish invention... I wonder about the hygiene being surrounded by all those pigeons, though

(3) Dumplings. Sorry, forgot to take pictures but they have several types of dumplings with the thick, chewy skin I like : ) The stuffings were a bit weird though, like sweet cheese. Pork & cabbage sounds normal, but had a funky taste. I definitely prefer Chinese and Japanese dumplings

(4) Rice pudding. This was THE discovery of my trip so far. YUMMMMMYYYYYYYY!!! Basically, you add hot water and wait a few minutes...and voila! Thick rice pudding (only vanilla flavor). I bought about 10 packs before leaving Poland, even though each does carry weight due to the rice inside. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find the same thing in other eastern European countries (sob). I might have to look online when I get back home.

Chillin' in Krakow

After I went to Auschwitz, the weather deteriorated and I got lazy...Plus, the hostel was so comfortable!!!

Actually, I had problems when I first checked in – I was given a bed in an 8 person room when I had booked and paid for 4 (wanted a little "quieter" time after spending the past few days in a full 10 bed dorm!). Complain I did. Someone in the front desk mistakenly gave the 4-bed room to 4 Brit guys who arrived slightly ahead of me. The hostel acknowledged their error and told me they'll kick the guys out...who started bitching and moaning about how they'd just unpacked their stuff. So, being the nice person that I am (haha!), I offered a compromise – to stay in the 8-bed for one night, and move the next. They still continued bitching, which pissed me off. I just backed off and let the hostel handle it (basically, they had to move NOW). One of the more level-headed guys immediately accepted my original offer.
Aside from those Brits and the 3 completely drunk Spaniards in my dorm the first night, the people I met there were wonderful! We did a lot of chatting and Olympics-watching in the awesome common room (with enormous plasma TV!)

Not that I stayed in the whole entire day. I did manage to get some touristy things done. Such as...
Chopin concert – Since I didn't get to go to the museum in Warsaw, I was determined to get something Chopin in Krakow. The piano concert was it (although a bit pricey at 50PLN). For about 2 hours, I got to listen to a lot of Chopin music played by a 20 year old pianist. Damn, I felt so old : ( The concert was in this really small music hall, so I got to see his super-quick finger movements and all – totally awesome! I regretted giving up on my piano practices so early in my life.
Wieliczka Salt Mine – After pondering for an entire day whether to go here or not, I took the advice of my dorm mate who highly recommended this place. (Oh, and that Polish guy I met in Tallin also said that I should check it out.) Can I say that it ABSOLUTELY SUCKED?! Getting there was no problem. But once there, you need to fork over 60 PLN to join a mandatory tour. Then, you just walk through the mine, which doesn't feel like a mine at all; nothing more than an underground museum of ridiculous statues. They are made of salt, but....SO WHAT?! It was such a waste of time and money.... The only thing that was sort of cool was (1) tasting the wall (yes, salty), (2) the last supper in salt, and (3) riding the shaft elevator at the end to get out of that darn place.Wawel Hill – Krakow's castle. Not particularly of interest to me (did not want to pay entrance fee), so just walked around the area. Nice enough. There's some dragon legend that has to do with the history of Krakow, and a fire-breathing dragon statue is somewhere around the castle...but I completely forgot to look for it. Oops.

Mixed Feelings about Auschwitz

Everyone who goes to Krakow goes to Auschwitz. I am certainly no exception.
I took the public transportation there (~2hr bus ride) to save on costs, but forked over 34PLN to join the on-site guided tour. It takes you through the two concentration camps (Auschwitz and nearby Birkenau) in about 3 hours. I thought it would be far more interesting and less boring than having to read all the small print displays, like I've been doing at the many museums over the past few days!

When I think about Auschwitz, gory images only come to mind. Fine, they can't keep a memorial site gory, but come on....this place was waaaaaay too NICE! Green grass growing everywhere. Spotless buildings – some used as special exhibition museums, and others as office space. Only a small section that displayed the victims' belongings and photos provided any indication of the horrific events that took place. These belongings included their suitcases, clothes, brushes, and shoes. By far, the most disturbing was the mounds of hair that were used in mattresses and some textile/clothing back then. Gross.

Birkenau was a bit better, in that you can get a sense of the vastness and the bareness of the concentration camps. Rows and rows of wooden barracks stuffed with these wooden bunks:

Can you imagine staying in one of these for months? Especially during the cold winter? And you don't even get the whole bunk to yourself (as I do in my hostels), but have to share it with 3-4 other people.
At Birkenau, you also get to walk along the train tracks through which the prisoners were brought in from all over eastern Europe, and then separated into "imprisonment" and "immediate death" groups. It was a long walk to those gas chambers...BTW, all of the gas chambers in Birkenau have been destroyed but there was a small one left in Auschwitz.

Anyways, Auschwitz wasn't exactly what I expected it to be, but the trip was nonetheless worthwhile. Depressing too. It's shocking, what the prisoners had to go through. More than that, though, I can't believe the Nazis were able to treat their fellow human beings in such an atrocious manner!
People suck.

A Lesson Learned

That is, "always have some local currency on hand".

The overnight bus arrived in Warsaw at 5:30am. The bus station was miles way from the city center. The money exchange shops were obviously closed at that hour. The only ATM in the building was out of service. Basically, the only way out was via taxi or public bus...and I had no Polish money on hand. Yikes!!!!! What to do, what to do, what to do?!
I wandered around the bus terminal, and headed to the adjoining, barely-used train station to see if there was an ATM there. Nothing. At this point, I was seriously contemplating the idea of riding the bus free.
Then....I ran into 2 Italian boys who were on the same bus, exactly in the same situation as me! Haha! So I'm not the only dumbo. The three of us decided to find a cab to take us to an ATM, and then on to the city center.
Success – about 1.5 hours after arriving in Warsaw, we were finally in the city : )

The 2 boys (yes, BOYS. I'm pretty sure they're barely 20. Pretty cute pair – one short & good looking, the other short & chubby) ended up staying at the same hostel as me. Obviously, we couldn't check-in at 7am. So....we played cards for the next 2-3 hours and then parted ways.

A lot of people skip Warsaw, saying there's absolutely nothing there to do. Well, I found a 1-day stop to be just perfect!

Unfortunately, the Chopin museum, which was #1 on my to-see list, was closed for renovation (until like 2010!). I had to settle for just the church holding his remains (heart). A group of Japanese girls were there on tour, and every single one of them had to get a photo in front of it. How annoying!!! And why in the world would you want a photo of yourself posing in front of a tomb?!?!?! I don't get it. I was losing my patience, but found them amusing at the same time....so I took a photo of them taking a photo.

From there, I headed to the old town, ignoring the castle/fortress. Warsaw's old town area is quite small (takes only like half an hour to walk through), but quaint and cute: ) Since I didn't get to see Chopin's museum, I decided to check out another random museum – the Curie Museum. There was absolutely nothing there. I'm not kidding; I think I was in and out in 10 minutes.... If anyone plans to go to Warsaw, skip this one.

As in Riga and Vilnius, Warsaw also has a museum dedicated to its communist past and the World Wars. The Warsaw Rising Museum was by far the coolest and most entertaining of them all! Totally HIP! Informative, too, of course.

Reading that Warsaw has the largest Jewish cemetery in the world, I walked over there under the blazing sun for at least 45 minutes. Shady and cool, but just a quick peek was enough. OK, a cemetery is not the most pleasant of places to wander around. It felt dark and a bit creepy, especially on my own. (Seems like the majority of tourists skip this one as the place was empty...)

My last stop of the day was the train station – I needed to get tickets for Krakow. Most young people in Poland speak fluent English. Unfortunately, there aren't many young people working at the station. I got stuck with this agent who spoke not a single word of English (or she was mean and pretended to be that way). Luckily, the lady at the next window helped with the translation. Otherwise, I would've ended up paying like $150 for a 1st class express train ticket, when a cheaper 2nd class would do just fine :)
(Yes, I was shocked at how expensive transportation in Poland can be!)

I've been seeing a lot of kebab stands in Eastern Europe, and decided to give it a go at dinner. Cheap and yummy!!! Although I must say that it was sort of weird having a lot of cabbage (similar to coleslaw) stuffed inside.

Rushing Around Vilnius

I only had about 30 hours to spend in Vilnius, including precious sleep time.

As soon as I checked into my hostel (possibly the worst one yet in Europe – damp, dirty, and dark), I headed out to check out the old town. Vilnius' old town is listed in the Unesco world heritage, and rightly so. The place is absolutely beautiful!!! I mean...I admit that it's just old buildings with red/orange tiled roofs on narrow cobblestone roads, but it was one of those really nice, atmospheric places to wander around. Very clean, too.

I'm not too into castles and fortresses, but after spending a few hours in the town and chowing down a chicken cheese burger, I went over there. Only because it's perched on top of a hill that gives panoramic views of the old town. The hill isn't that high, and there's even a paved road leading up to the top – I'd say max 10 minutes to the top. BUT, they make you take the funicular!!! For a fee of course. And they walled off the top so you can't get a view...UNLESS you pay to go to the top of the tower!!! What a rip off!!! I suppose it was worth it though...the view was certainly great!
I planned to take a look at some of the quirky monuments highlighted in Lonely Planet (my bible). First one - "Egg Statue". Looked very lame, and was in a sketchy neighborhood. I decided not to look for the rest...

The next day, I rushed to the KGB Museum in the morning (it was closed the day before). Very similar to the Occupation Museum in Latvia, except this one presents Communism and the World Wars from the Lithuanian viewpoint. The exhibition and displays were a notch above the Latvians, although the texts overwhelmed me once again. The coolest part of this museum, though, is the basement. It was used as a KGB office, with interrogation, monitoring, and torturing rooms.

In the afternoon, I took the bus over to Trakai (~1 hr). For some reason, the buses don't have round trip fares, and charge more for the return leg. Anyways, I'll repeat myself by saying that I'm not into castles. But a lot of people recommended this little town with a castle by the lake. Unfortunately, the castle turned out to be over 2km walk from the bus stop, and the weather wasn't the best : ( The castle was...a castle that looked relatively new. Since I made the effort to come all the way here, I paid for admission to the castle too. Bad idea...Totally not worth it. I don't particularly care to see weapons, coins, and plates.

I got back to Vilnius in the evening, and went back to the hostel to grab my luggage. then, hopped on an overnight, long distance bus for Warsaw.
(I intended this trip to be more of an eastern Europe RAIL trip, but things didn't work out that way...the rail system is basically nonexistent in this part of the world)

I think I'm getting a bit lazy in my sightseeing. Originally, I planned to stop over at Siaulai in southern Lithuania for the Hill of Crosses, before heading into Poland. But I gave up – It sort of looked like a hassle and a day trip from Vilnius would've taken about 3 hours each way....

On a final note, almost every other person I met in here traveled through Russia, and absolutely raved about it. Why didn't I do that?!?!?! I'm frustrated at myself for not going there. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

A Bad First Impression

The bus from Estonia dropped me off at the dumpiest bus station I've ever seen. The first thought that raced through my mind was, "What the heck am I doing here?!" I had no clue where my hostel was located, but I just speed walked right out of there!!! Good thing I have a sense of direction; I was able to get to the general vicinity. But I couldn't quite figure out how the street numbers in Latvia worked. So, I decided to ask this woman....who shook her head and walked right past me. Waru's thought - "Bitch!!!". I think she felt sort of bad though...she actually came back and led me to the place. Waru's thought - "Latvia may not be that bad..."

Which turned out to be the case. The city isn't the prettiest of places. Even the old town was sort of run down. Still, it was a nice place to walk through, with a bunch of fun stores, great cafes (they have DELICIOUS strudels!), and colorful wall art.My favorite was the street full of Borats! I don't him ever going to Latvia in that movie though...

What impressed me was the large number of luxury cars in the streets! Huge Mercedes and Bentleys....I heard that a tons of Russian money flows into Latvia (I assume illegally...)

I got my first peek of Communism's history at the free Latvian Occupation Museum. Highly informative, but the exhibit featured more text than anything! As usual, I was really into it at first, but the interest waned as I kept going...I couldn't be bothered to read the displays after a while :)

The hideous bus terminal that initially made me hate Latvia turned out to be okay in the end. I went back to it a couple of times, since Riga's central market is located right behind the terminal. The market is composed of 4-5 of these massive warehouse-like things. Inside are infinite row of stalls, selling everything from produce to electronics to socks to animals. I tried to buy some cheese, but the old women there were sooooooo unhelpful.

Conclusion: I'm not exactly sure if I liked Latvia or not...

Into the Baltics

I had a really good time in Finland. There was definitely more for me to see there (yes, including the Moomin amusement park), but it was time to move into cheaper territory.

I took the ferry from Helsinki to the city of Tallin in Estonia. Note - you can save about 10 euros by purchasing a 1-day round trip ticket, rather than a one way as I stupidly did. I heard this from a Polish guy who decided to take the seat next to me, even though there were many empty seats around. Pissed me off at first, but he turned out to be a nice guy. We decided to quickly check out the city together once we arrived.

Tallin is very small; most people come here as a day trip from Helsinki. You can easily see the sights in the old town (the touristic area) in a couple of hours. As in any old town, the main sights include several churches, cobbled alleyways, central plaza, and the town wall. I don't think Tallin even had a museum of much interest...at least we didn't go into any. And there is always this one sight that allows you to climb up to the top for a 360 degree view of the city. In Tallin, this was the church tower.After a few hours of wandering around, moving from one place to another, we decided to have an early dinner at the plaza. I usually don't eat at the plazas since they tend to be very touristy (bad food) and overpriced. But what the heck. I hadn't eaten at a proper restaurant since I left Italy. So we had some Estonian food - mostly some sort of meat with potatoes and a sauerkraut-ish thing. My pork was a bit hard, but the potatoes and cabbages were delicious. Especially with the spicy mustard. Yum. Estonian beer was rather tasty as well.
Dinner conversation centered around travelling. (What else could it be!!!) The guy had done some hard-core backpacking earlier on, and it was so fun listening to his experiences and getting advices on where to go. It wasn't all listening though - he is planning on starting an around the world trip in 6 months and wanted to hear about my planning and about the around the world tickets. (I think I sold him on the One World ticket)
...and then we parted...

On the second day, I went back to many of the same sights. Everything was so rushed yesterday! I must've strolled around the old town area about 3 times! But I really liked the small, cozy atmosphere : ) Then, I headed out to the new town area to get my bus ticket for Latvia and take a look at some of the shopping centers. Yarn is cheap in Estonia.

I've started to get in the habit of cooking my meals here. Bought a small bag of rice (unfortunately long grain) to carry around with me. I wish I had soy sauce; it would make everything taste better. Not that I know how to cook without my recipes.